The We're Screwed Chronicles
by Lady Kat
Summary: Sirrus and Achenar go on a mission to...Riven? What is going on here? (post-Myst)
1. Myst and D'ni

The "We're Screwed" Chronicles

Author's notes: Here it is, as promised: the new Sirrus and Achenar fic by me! Lady Kat. I apologize for the stupidness of the original S&A banterfic, there was no plot, and I just couldn't make it go. I'm sorry. I know where this one is going, though, so don't fear! Plus, I'm in the mood to write, and that's a good thing. Let's all see how long that lasts. 

Disclaimer: I do not own Myst, but if I did, I'd sell tickets there and make a fortune!

Summary: Okay. What if two (yes, I realize it's only supposed to be one, but it's two, work with me here) really stupid travelers stumble upon the Myst book and accidently let both of the brothers out of their prisons? What would they do then(the brothers, not the stupid people.)? And if Atrus still needs someone to go to Riven......OOC-ness abounds. May abound. Might abound. If it suits my purposes. Which it probably will.

* * *

"Yes! Yes...I'm free!"

"Oh yes. I'm free! I feel...alive." Incessant giggling accompanied this statement. Suddenly both men stopped. They slowly swiveled around to face one another. 

"You," they said in unison.

"I had hoped never to see you again, dear brother," said the one, scooping up the red book behind him and briskly walking out of the library. The hairier man pouted, scooped up the blue book and followed suit. 

"Sirrus, don't say that! I know you love me!" He rounded the fountain, breaking the mast of the model ship with a swipe of his hand. "What would you do without me?"

"Possibly keep things intact." Sirrus entered the log cabin. He emerged a few seconds later with a lit match. He held it against his book until it caught, then handed it to his brother. He again copied his brother. Sirrus walked to the edge of the island, waited until the red prison had burned to a sufficent degree, and then plunked it unceremoniously into the waiting water.

"That's unfair, and you know it!" whined Achenar. Plunk. "It was your all idea!"

"Was it? I don't ever remember coming to you and saying, 'Hey Achenar, why don't you kill all of my subjects for fun?' Please remind me when I said that." Sirrus gave his brother a long, pointed stare before moving on.

"Well," he began sheepishly, "You didn't say *that*. But you did want me to destroy the ages!" Achenar grinned smugly, now he'd won. Sirrus approached him slowly, staring him straight in the eyes.

"I wanted you to destroy the ones where we'd caused mass carnage, not to completely obliterate all of them. Now we have no one left to play with." Achenar frowned as Sirrus turned away, maybe he hadn't quite won yet. Sirrus walked briskly to the dock, flipped open the vault, and took the white page. "Come along, dear brother. We have some sucking up to do." Achenar's jaw dropped; he ran up and tore the page out of his brother's hand.

"What are you doing?!" he wheezed. "You're letting Father out?"

"Well, what else do you suggest we do? It's just you, me, and five *unpopulated* ages! That's boring!"

"And I guess you're going to blame this on me?"

"Yes!" Sirrus climbed into the fireplace, Achenar following him. 

"You always blame..."

"Achenar, move your knee."

"Why?"

"Because if you don't, I'm not entirely sure I'll be able produce an heir," said Sirrus in an increasingly high soprano.

"Right. Sorry." Achenar pressed himself against the back wall as Sirrus punched in the code. "Where was I...? Yes, that's it! You always blame me for everything!"

"Well, that's because it's wonderfully convienent." Sirrus flipped the red switch. "Idiots are always easy to blame." 

"Shut up!" Achenar punched Sirrus in the arm as the fireplace spun around. 

"Stop it, brother. We have no time for foolishness. We must convince Father that we are changed men." Sirrus reached for the D'ni linking book.

"I'm changed," Achenar said proudly. "I'm smarter than I was before." Sirrus looked back at his brother in disbelief.

"Perhaps you should let me do the talking."

* * *

Atrus read the patch he had just applied to Riven. The world appeared to be stabilizing, perhaps it would become stable enough for him to rescue Catherine. But that was a foolish hope, his efforts were barely sustaining Riven. Atrus realized then that he may never see his beloved Catherine again, not without help.

"Hello, Father."

Life certainly has a sense of humor, doesn't she? Sometimes a little too ironic. Atrus looked up to see his two power-hungry, sadistic, money-grubbing sons standing before him. Well, one was standing, the other was bobbing back and forth rapidly, grinning like a maniac.

"What...how did you two get out?" Sirrus strode foward, placing the Myst page in front of him.

"I would just like to begin by saying: it was all Achenar's fault." Achenar's jaw dropped, he lauched himself forward on to Sirrus' back. 

"My fault? My fault? You're the mastermind; you told me so!" Sirrus swung around trying to dislodge his brother from his back; Achenar hung on tight, beating on Sirrus' back with his fists. "I'm tired of being blamed! It's his fault, Faaaather!" Achenar fell off and landed on the ground with a thud. Sirrus straightened his jacket.

"Now, Father, you and I both know Achenar's violent tendencies. I can also tell you that he's a pathological liar."

"He's making it up!"

"How can we believe anything a pathological liar says?" Achenar thought for a minute.

"That's a good point...hey!" 

"Enough!" Atrus yelled, silencing the two boys. "We have more important matters to tend to at the moment."

"We...?" questioned Sirrus, his brow furrowing. "But Father, what about...?"

"Shut up. I need you both to go to Riven, rescue your mother, and capture your grandfather, Gehn, in this." He tossed them what appeared to be a D'ni linking book, but Sirrus knew what it really was. A prison book.

"Oooooooh, if I use that here," asked Achenar, bouncing over, "will I link back to the same place I'm standing now?" he reached for the book, giggling.

"No!" screamed both Sirrus and Atrus. "It's a prison book!" finished Sirrus angrily, snatching it out of his brother's grasp. Atrus shook his head, handing Sirrus his journal.

"This will explain everything. Now hurry up." He held up the Riven book. Sirrus and Achenar looked at each other, shrugged, and touched the linking page. In that instant, they were gone. Atrus placed the Riven book back on his desk and stared down at it. He thought of his two sons, and then shook his head bitterly. "We're screwed."

* * *

Okay, that's the first chapter! Next chapter: Temple Island! Or something like that. Possibly Village Island, too. Okay, basically as far as I get. It depends how much rambling S&A do. They just kind of start talking; I only write it down. ^_^ Okay, well, please review! I promise I'll update this one!


	2. Temple Island

Author's notes: Well, I'm back. Actually, I wrote this chapter immediately after the first, so I didn't fall into the post-first chapter slump I have a tendency to get into. But I posted it later just to be evil. So =P. And it took forever for people to review, too! -_-; Review, all of you! Oh, and I know that the offerings at the temple were only fruit, but I changed it to suit my purposes. You'll see.

* * *

The first thing that Sirrus and Achenar were aware of after the link was the clank of metal. 

"Hey," muttered Achenar absentmindedly. "That sounds like a cage closing."

"It is."

"Oh. Pull the shock switch, would you, love?" Sirrus blinked as Achenar leaned into his shoulder, drool dripping out of his mouth.

"Number one: we are *not* in the Mechanical Age, so there is no shock switch. Number two: wake up! And number three: call me 'love' again and I will castrate you." Achenar's eyes flipped open to see that he and his brother were trapped in a small, vertically-oriented cage, and he had pressed himself up against said brother. He also noticed that there was a large drool stain on the back of Sirrus' best jacket. Suddenly, they both became aware of a man standing in front of the cage. He was dressed in what appeared to be a uniform, and spoke in a strange language. "Excuse me, could you possibly let us out?" The man gestured to show that he did not understand.

"Um, Sirrus?"

"Shut up, dear brother. Now you, soldier-man, do try to understand. LET. US. OUT," he spoke slowly, as if drawing out his words would make their message anymore clear. This only caused the guard to attempt the same thing. He was also vaguely aware of Achenar deftly swiping at the shoulder of his jacket, which became increasingly annoying as the guard's one-sided conversation continued.

"Would you stop that?!" Sirrus cried, pushing his brother's hand away.

"But," protested Achenar weakly.

"But nothing...!" The guard took that opportunity to wrench the linking book from Sirrus' hand. "Give that back!" he commanded, trying to grab it back, but the guard was already out of reach. He appeared to be incredibly happy as he flipped through the book, but then something hit him in the back of the neck. He passed out, and then was dragged away from the front of the cage. A masked man decked out in red and black walked over to the lever mechanism across from the cage, pushed it, and jammed a knife into it. The bars in front of Sirrus and Achenar began to disappear into the ground. By the time they were down, the man was gone-with the prison book.

"I'll catch him!" yelled Achenar, dashing up the stairs, across the bridge, and out of sight. Sirrus watched him go with mild irritation. 

"Well, perhaps now I can get some work done." He strode into the rotating room and examined the images inside of the beetles. They were quite interesting, depicting in each of them a different scene-one man appeared in all of them. 'That must be Gehn,' Sirrus mused. 'Why didn't Father ever tell me I had such an interesting Grandfather?' He pulled out Atrus' journal; perhaps this would shed some light on the situtation. It didn't. It turned out to be nothing more than his father's useless ramblings. Ah well. 

Knock, knock. 

Sirrus' head snapped up. Was someone watching him?

Knock, knock.

It was quite possible. If he was Gehn, he would have spies everywhere. 

Bang, bang!

The knocking had become a loud banging. Sirrus looked all around him; where was it coming from?

Bang, bang!

He moved closer to the wall. It vibrated with each knock-this was where the banging was coming from. There was a small peephole in the wall...

Bang, bang!

Sirrus placed his eye up to the hole and.......the banging stopped.

There was someone else looking back at him.

Sirrus jumped back, and a nasally wail emanated from the wall.

"Hellllooo, dear brother! Did I scare you?" Girlish giggling followed. Sirrus smacked the wall in frustration.

"Achenar, how did you end up over there?"

"I walked." More giggling.

"I am aware of that...oh, never mind. Did you catch the man?"

"What man?"

".....What did I do to deserve you?"

"I don't know, dear brother, but that's awfully nice of you to say!"

"Oh yes, I killed people, but *really*....I'm leaving." Sirrus began to walk towards the exit.

"No, Sirrus, don't go! I have to tell you what I found!" Achenar spoke through the cave wall. "I ran off looking for that man...ooooh, *that's* who you were talking about...well, I didn't find him, I don't know where he could have gone, but that's not the point. Anyway, I kept running until I hit a wall, and there was a lever and I almost pulled it, but then I decided to come back here to see what you were doing first. There was also a door, but I didn't worry about it, and then I was running across the bridge and I saw that there was another way around, so I walked around, but there was a gate and it was locked, but then I saw one of those neat old knives at the base of the gate, and I realized there was enough of a gap to crawl under, so I did, but it took a lot of struggling-that gap was not made for husky men like me, more like for girly ones like you-and now I have bloody cuts all down my back from that nasty wood. Good thing I had to take my shirt off to get under, or it would have been all torn up too, just like my back!" There was nothing but silence. "Um, brother? Sirrus? Are you listening to me?"

* * *

"Well, isn't this interesting?" Sirrus commented, looking at the caged-in chair. The cage ascended as he stepped closer to it. He examined his surroundings carefully; it appeared hat this was some kind of imaging machine.

"Now to go examine that switch dear brother mentioned."

* * *

"Um, Sirrus? Are you there? Help...I just need a little bit of help," Achenar squirmed underneath the wooden gate; he was stuck. Again. "Dear brother...HELP!!!"

* * *

"What was that?" Sirrus looked around, hand still resting on the lever attached to the stone wall.

"Still stuck!" a voice echoed. "Need hel...OW! Gate embedded in my back! Brother!"

"Just a dying animal," Sirrus sighed, pushing the stone door open. He entered the large temple room, drinking in the overstated majesty of the place. He stared at the large cage, smirking as he walked towards it. "It would seem Grandfather has quite a God complex." It was then his attention drifted to the offerings on the floor...there was..."Gold," Sirrus breathed. He dropped to his knees in awe of the pile before him, it had been so long since he had seen it....the luxury. The beauty. The awe. His eyes shone with lust as he tenderly picked the coins up off the polished floor.

"GOLD!" 

* * *

"Ack..almost...out...ah! That's gonna leave a mark....pull, pull, pull..." the sound of ripping fabric could be heard, "...there! Triumph!" Achenar jumped to his feet and struck a dramatic pose. "I've done it! All bow before Achenar, Lord of the Shimmy!" As he finished saying this, he looked down and realized...

"My best pants!"

...That his pants were now around his ankles.

* * *

Sirrus tossed the coins up in the air with immeasurable joy. Oh, what a glorious day! Freedom and gold! Yes, nothing better in the world than gold, maybe except for freedom, because, let's face it, you can't really enjoy gold without freedom, but they both are just oh so wonderful. And the best part was he didn't have to share it with anyone, not anyone at all......

Achenar.

Sirrus sat bolt upright, clutching the gold in his hands. His eyes darted around at a feverish pace-yes, of course, how could he have forgotten Achenar? That money-grubbing, greedy, self-centered little.....he'd never let him keep all of it. Sirrus bounced up, began pacing back and forth, all the while pressing the gold to his chest. No, no, he wasn't going to give up his gold, not to him. But if Achenar saw it, he wouldn't let him keep it, he never did before. He always griped about him getting money, Achenar just didn't like to see his brother prosper.

"I'll hide it!"

* * *

Achenar smiled proudly. He had managed to turn his torn shirt into a makeshift belt that now held his torn pants loosely in place.

"Yes, I have done it! All bow to Achenar, Lord of the Belt!" He skipped around to the entrance of the rotating room and pushed the button in the doorway. The room spun around slowly until all that remained in the door was a peephole which Achenar peered through. He pushed the button again and again until he figured it out. He had to go back under the gate.

"Damn it."

* * *

"That will have to do for now," Sirrus said, tucking all the gold beside the entrance to the temple. "Achenar won't see it if he's not looking for it." He turned to the large contraption behind him, observing the tracks. "Ah, this must be some sort of transport. This will definitely amuse my dear brother." Sirrus headed back to the rotating room only to find it empty and the gate opened. "Brother?" He walked through the room and across the bridge to what appeared to be a giant gold dome. Inside the dome was a pool of water and a giant mechanism hanging from the roof. There were stairs to his left and a broken walkway to his right. In front of him laid a diagram with five points, whatever that meant. Only one way to go.

Sirrus descended the stairs and walked around out of the room. He heard the whistling of steam, and walked out on the cliffside to see a steam pipe. There was a lever on the side; Sirrus pulled it and the steam was redirected through a system of pipes up to the dome. It was then he heard a high-pitched giggling. "I think I hear my brother calling..."

Sirrus continued down the cliffside path thrugh a dark cave, and when he reached the other side, he found Achenar.

"Steam on...steam off. Steam on...steam off. Steam on..."

"Achenar..."

"Steam off. Steam on...steam..."

"Achenar!"

"What?!" cried Achenar, tearing his attention away from his beloved steam lever for a moment. 

"Achenar, it's time to move on. Please redirect the steam, and let's go."

"No. I don't wanna. I'm having fun." His eyes gleamed, "Steam off. Steam on." 

"Achenar!" Sirrus pulled his brother away from the lever and redirected the steam. "It's time to go!"

"I already told you, I wanna play with the lever!" Sirrus rolled his eyes, and then quickly snapped his fingers.

"But Achenar, I found something much more interesting. A *ride*."

"A ride?"

"Yes, let's go see it."

"Okay!" Achenar happily bounded throught the cave; Sirrus followed him, smirking. They continued to the tram, and got in. "Oh, dear brother, there's only one chair!" Achenar hopped in and sat down. "You can sit on my lap, if you want." Achenar grinned ferociously, throughly enjoying the look of disgust on the other's face. Sirrus reluctantly climbed into the tram and knelt in a small gap next to the chair. Achenar looked over the control panel giddily. "Let's try this one!" He pulled the switch in the middle of the panel, but nothing happened. "Aw...well, how about this one?" He pulled a lever around the panel. The door closed, and the tram swung around. Achenar bounced up and down in his seat.

"Oh, Maker save us," mumured Sirrus as Achenar pulled the switch which sent the tram on it's way.

"Here we go!"

* * *

And that's another chapter down! Only about.....a dozen more to go! Actually, I don't know how long this thing's going to be. We'll see as it goes along. I would just like to thank everyone who reviewed already, and ask you to keep those reviews coming! Much thanks, and see you next time!


	3. Village Island

Author's notes: Hola, and welcome to the third installment of The "We're Screwed" Chronicles! In this installment, much will happen. Maybe. At least there will be zaniness. I know that much. Actually, the first few paragraphs of this chapter seems a little more serious to me. Perhaps I shouldn't watch "Grave of The Fireflies" while trying to write a humor fic. I don't know if any of you have seen it, but you should. You'll cry.

Also, I would like to thank all those wonderful people who read and reviewed my story! You guys rock my socks!

You know, I actually had to wipe the dust off my keyboard before starting this. Interesting, no?

* * *

Achenar bounded out of the tram with a little boy's enthusiasm. Sirrus stumbled out clutching his stomach, looking as green as the grass on Myst Island.

"Oh brother, wasn't that fun?" Recieving no reply, he decided to continue. "Want to ride again?!" Sirrus visibly paled and rushed around to the side of the tram, a corner carved out into the rock. Achenar watched his brother expend the contents of his stomach onto the rough sandstone with a mild glee. Sirrus slowly straightened up at the sound of his brother's giggling at his expense. 

"You..." Sirrus stopped abruptly, holding his hand out to the wall in front of him.

"I what, brother?" Achenar baited. He wanted this game to continue; it was not often he got the better of Sirrus. Sirrus, however, ignored him and continued to focus on the wall. Achenar jumped over to see what had captured his brother's attention. Set into the stone was a sphere about the size of a fist with an eye painted onto it. Sirrus pushed it, and it rolled itself around to reveal some writing on the other side.

"A numeral," muttered Sirrus.

"How can you tell?"

"It looks like the numerals that were used in some of Father's ages." Achenar grimaced as Sirrus said this. Why did his brother have to be such a know-it-all? "Well," Sirrus said, stretching, "On we go." Sirrus quickly walked away from the tram and his previous humiliation, eager to leave it behind him. Achenar stalked after him, following him into the cave and up the stairs, briefly turning around to cast one last glance at the stone corner. It was then he realized that the mouth of the cave possessed a very distinctive shape.

"Froggie?"questioned Achenar, cocking his head to one side. He felt a hand grasp his shoulder and spin him around.

"If you're done..."

"I'm coming, I'm coming." The two trudged onwards, up the stairs and out of the cave until they reached a fork in the pathway; one set of stairs up, one set downwards.

"Well, well, dear brother, which way shall we go?" Achenar paused, then brightened, beginning to sing.

"You take the high road, and I'll take the low road, and I'll get to Grandfather before ye!" Still singing, he bounded down the staircase. "Doo doo doo de da dum doo de..." With that, Achenar was gone from sight. Sirrus regarded his brother for a moment, before heading up the other stairs to his right.

"Completely insane. Absolutely and completely bonkers." He crossed a rope bridge and came to a forked path. Looking carefully both ways, he took a right and came to another fork. Taking the right again, he looked down the hole to see a mine cart. A lever waited on the side. "Perhaps I should show dear brother the new ride..." Sirrus grinned evilly thinking of all the places that a mine cart in the middle of a decimated forest could lead....a furnace? A chipper? A very deep pit? All the possiblities were enthralling. He vowed to tell his brother of this as soon as they met up again.

For now, Sirrus contented himself with thoughts of destroyed Achenar as the took the path which lead deeper into the forest. As he passed through the gate, he noticed a gold beetle on the door frame. Raising a hand, he smashed it with a simple swipe. "Loathsome insect."

* * *

Achenar walked down the stairs until the rock walls parted to reveal a sunlit cove. Two large animals lay on rocks in the center of the cove. Achenar's eyes widened; he yanked a dagger from his shoe. Letting out a war cry-alerting the animals to his presence-he dashed towards them, diving over rocks, and one inordiantely tall palm tree, in the process. The two animals, Sunners, shuffled their way off the rocks in an attempt to escape the rampaging hairy man. 

Achenar stumbled across the sand and sloshed through the water. He scrambled up the rock in time to grab the tail of one of the Sunners....and get pulled off into the ocean.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

* * *

Sirrus walked away from the eyeball-shaped sphere implated in the rock beneath the giant dagger. The second he'd found. Those obviously had some kind of importance; whether or not it would matter would be seen later. He continued down the path through the forest, entering a tree trunk and coming to yet another fork. Deciding to go right one more time, he headed down the path in front of him until he came to a giant idol of a beast.

"Same beast as in the temple where I found the gold..." Sirrus paused. His jaw clenched as he thought of his gold, just laying there unguarded. He had no secret place to put in it as he'd possessed in Mechanical. "I must scour this island for a safe place to put it!" With that, Sirrus turned and fled from the idol and ran back the way he had came, taking the quickest path out of the forest-going over the lava. 

When he reached the gate, he swung it open and was greeted by a loud siren. He looked up; there, in a tower, was a man. He was dressed in the same guard's uniform as the first man they'd met on the island. After sounding the alarm, he disappeared into the lower half of the tower. He had a feeling he wouldn't be meeting any of his mother's relatives.

As he mused on long-lost relatives that he could exploit, he realized that he was actually quite hungry. There had to be food somewhere on this island. Food and a gold-hiding place. Yes.

* * *

"Stop!" wailed Achenar as the Sunner flipped around in the shallow water, trying to shake the man from him. "I can't kill you when you're moving around like thi...hey, leggo!" The Sunner clamped its jaw down on Achenar's knife and pulled. "That's mine! Give...It...Back!" Achenar attempted to regain his grasp on the knife.

The Sunner tugged on the other end.

Achenar tugged.

The Sunner tugged.

And Achenar tugged.

As did the Sunner.

* * *

Sirrus continued on through a cave until he reached what appeared to be the village. As he walked down the dock, he saw a child playing up ahead. Obviously someone hadn't got the message to go hide. A woman dashed around the corner, grabbed the child, glared down in Sirrus' direction, and ran away. Sirrus continued to follow the path until he came to a set of ladders which he proceeded to climb. At the top, he found a spherical hut with a small door. The door had a star-knocker, and since he had nothing better to do, and he had not yet found a sufficient gold-hiding area, he knocked on the door. 

Nothing.

Knock.

Nothing.

Knock.

Nothing.

Knock.

Nothing.

Knock.

A small peephole on the door flew open and a woman peered out. 

"Excuse me, but I require some food..." the small peephole slammed shut in his face. Sirrus' eyes blazed, no one slammed a door in his face. He knocked again. 

Nothing.

Knock.

Nothing.

Knock.

Nothing.

Knock.

Nothing.

Knock.

The peephole swung open again and the same woman looked out, a irritated look on her face. 

"Now you listen here, nobody slams a door in my face! I demand food, peon!" The woman muttered something in a incoherent manner and Sirrus angrily thrust his hand through the peephole in an attempt to force his way in. Sirrus then howled in pain, because the woman had slammed the door shut on his hand, crushing precious tissues and, quite possibly, a few bones in the process. 

* * *

"There! Done!" Achenar held up a large vest made of a tough, leathery material. To his right lay a gigantic, deformed piece of flesh that previously was a Sunner, although one couldn't be sure as the skin had been hacked away. Achenar flipped the vest around, appraising it. Satisfied, he put it on. Grinning manically, he plunged his hands into the creature's blood.

* * *

Sirrus stumbled onto the rock plateau, clutching his hand to his chest. Looking around, he found nothing even vaguely resembling medicine, or even a brace. He kissed his hand; it hurt. A lot. 

This was all Achenar's fault. If he hadn't destroyed the Ages, then they wouldn't have had to go to Father, and then they wouldn't have had to come here, and then he wouldn't have gotten his hand smashed by one of those pathetic natives. 

"I hope it leads to a really, really deep pit," muttered Sirrus, thinking about the mine cart. Looking around, he saw a giant contraption resting on the side of the cliff. Walking up to it, he noticed a large lever. He pulled it, and it descended to the water below. "A submarine," he mused. "I'll have to get in." Suddenly, Sirrus' train of thought was interrupted by a loud bellowing from below. A figure approached the submarine from below, and Sirrus craned his neck around to see who it was, although he already knew who it most likely was. His brother never did anything without a war cry of some kind. No sense of appropriate ceremony at all.

Looking over the edge Sirrus saw a man climb down to the sub. He was wearing a shiny vest and his arms and head weree covered in a thick red glop-it looked much like dried blood. 

"Achenar!" Sirrus yelled. "Achenar! Who did you kill now?" The man in question looked upwards and waved enthusiastically; his face and hands were also covered.

"Oh, hello brother! Do you like my war paint?" Achenar balanced himself over the entrance of the sub and called upwards. Sirrus shook his head disparagingly. "Oh? You don't? Well, you never did appreciate art!" he huffed, crossing his blood-coated arms angrily.

"I just hope you didn't make a mess."

"Oh no, I just left the remains on the beach!" Achenar said brightly. "I had quite a feast!" Sirrus paled and grew slightly green again.

"You ate it raw?"

"Of course!" Achenar paused. "Oh, that's right, you can't stand uncooked meat. It makes you sick doesn't it, brother?" Achenar grinned. "Perhaps you would like some! It's still on the beach. I'm sure the sun's cooked it a little!" Sirrus fought back the bile rising in his throat as Achenar continued. "And the bacteria probably hasn't even gotten to it yet!" Sirrus spun away from his brother, clutching his stomach painfully. He didn't have much of an appetite anymore.

But wait! The mine cart!

"Achenar!" Sirrus called. "Achenar, I found another ride! This one looks like a lot of fun!" 

"Really?" Achenar smiled, then climbed down into the submarine. "I think I'll try this one first! You have fun though, brother!"

"No, Achenar! Achenar!" Sirrus yelled futilely as Achenar closed the hatch and rode off in the sub. Sirrus kicked the gold altar at his side in frustration, then grasped his toe in pain, hopping up and down on one foot. "Damn Achenar," he muttered, trudging back to the forest.

When he got there, he looked down warily into the mine cart. There was nothing left for him to do on this island, and Father's journal stated quite clearly that this world, Riven, was crumbling. It could mean death to delay at all.

But going down there could also mean death. Sirrus now cringed at the possibilities he had previously relished. A furnace.

Melted Sirrus. Sirrus stew.

A chipper.

Shredded Sirrus over salad.

A really, really deep pit.

Sirrus pancakes with wood syrup. 

Honestly, life wasn't fair. He climbed down into the cart and tentatively pulled the lever. As he did, it hit him. This was Achenar's plan. 

He knew about the gold and wanted it for himself. He knew. He knew! And he had fallen right into his dear brother's trap!

"Damn you, Achenar!" yelled Sirrus as the cart screeched off into the underground cave.

* * *

Achenar popped his head out of the sub hatch, looking around. He could have sworn he heard someone call his name. "Oh well," he muttered, and disappeared back into the sub.

* * *

And that is installment number three! I hope you all loved it. Sorry for the long wait, I've been having some troubles with story organization and timing. But I think I've got it all fixed now. As always, review and tell me what you thought! Thank you!


End file.
